Category: SHOWS

Photo Recap: Angel Du$t at The Roxy

Janky Smooth Central Command December 1, 2021

Photos by: Taylor Wong Fresh off the heels of their tour with mannequin Pussy, Angel Du$t quickly returned to LA to showcase their new softer side with a slew of hardcore heavyweights on the bill with them. This time, hardcore came to West Hollywood, where all the glitz and glamor got a little filthy and wild for a night. We got the photographic scoop on the night via Taylor Wong so check out his pics and give Angel Du$t a listen while you do. Angel Du$t Militarie Gun Modern Color Wise

Every Time We Party: Every Time I Die at Violent Gentlemen’s 10 Year Anniversary at Garden Amp

Janky Smooth Central Command November 30, 2021

Words by: Wesley Vanhook Photos by: Pedro Carrera There’s something magical about Garden Amp in Garden Grove. There’s just a connection that’s felt no matter the artist and this show was nothing short of an experience. It was the perfect venue to host Violent Gentleman’s 10 year anniversary as one punk rock’s most important clothing brands. Santa Cruz Hardcore outfit Drain have been grinding and making their presence known in the scene. Their fans furthered this point by losing their minds and singing word for word, stage dive after stage dive. Drain is a force to be reckoned with and nothing it seems can slow the rise of this beast of a band. related content: Boston Calling: Sound And Fury 2019 Bay Area hardcore legends Ignite brought their classic sound and gave the crowd an upbeat positive vibe. The band was the final mystery reveal on the lineup. Their music hit hard and loud. Giving the crowd the proper energy boost to prepare for the night’s headliner. Hailing from Buffalo, New York, the kings of auditory chaos: Every. Time. I. Die. From the moments the stage lights dimmed, everyone was poised and ready to receive their offering. Chants of “Every

Take This: Win Two Tickets to X at Teragram Ballroom

Janky Smooth Central Command November 30, 2021

Long before the Teragram stood in Los Angeles, X were the kings and queens of punk rock in southern California, owning the Sunset Strip to Chinatown. And now, these icons are playing the Teragram to cement their everlasting importance and relevance that brings them to the biggest and freshest spots of music’s newest gen. YOU CAN BUY TICKETS HERE or ENTER TO WIN 2 TICKETS TO X DECEMBER 3RD AT THE TERAGRAM BALLROOM Step 1- Join Our Newsletter (look for pop up every time you arrive at jankysmooth.com) Step 2 – Tag a Friend in the comment section of our INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK X Ticket Giveaway Post WINNER WILL BE SELECTED ON DECEMBER 2ND AT 1PM PST VIA EMAIL CONFIRMATION

One Hundred Trillion Gecs: 100 Gecs at the Shrine

Rob Shepyer November 27, 2021

100 Gecs, the duo of Laura Les and Dylan Brady, are the most polarizing group in all of contemporary music. People either love them or hate them. I rarely hear an indifferent reaction after playing their music for someone. Frankly, that’s the way I like it. A band that can summon immediate love or deep hatred at the same time means they’re a band made for the weirdos that even the normies can grow to appreciate. I personally love the band’s music and don’t care what anyone thinks of me for loving it. After all, since the beginning of 100 Gecs, it’s always been them against the world. related content: Alien Boys And Girls: George Clanton And Magdalena Bay At 1720 I was so incredibly stoked to cover 100 Gecs’ concert at the Shrine and wasn’t one bit surprised they packed the house with what might’ve been the biggest crowd they’ve performed in front of that wasn’t in a festival setting. You can say 100 Gecs is music for nerds because it attracts gamers, dweebs and outsiders but at the same time, there were plenty of jocks and cheerleaders in that audience, raging harder than anyone for the mysterious duo.

Spooky Psych Sounds: Levitation 2021

Grace Dunn November 24, 2021

Words by: Scott Urian and Grace Dunn Photos by: Grace Dunn I had no idea what to expect on my way to Levitation 2021. It was my first Levitation experience. Damn – it was also the first time I had been on an airplane, travelled out of state, or seen a single show with a crowd of more than a hundred people in the past two years of surprises and confusion. My overall takeaway from this experience was more surprises, more confusion, and absolutely no doubt that I will be back next year. My navigator of all things bizarre in Austin was none other than Grace Suzette. Photographer of the psychotic, Levitation veteran, and devout member of all things loud. With her confidence and my wide eyes began a four day melee of music at various venues in the Red River District that would have killed me had I not been having so much fun. related content: Psych & Fury: Levitation 2019 Thursday Angelica Garcia at Stubb’s Angelica’s deserved a much denser crowd. Those who planned their night around Crumb can’t be blamed, but missed out on a showcase of pure talent that started the momentum of the whole weekend.

Squid, it’s Whats for Dinner at Moroccan Lounge

Rob Shepyer November 22, 2021

I can’t recall the last time I was shocked at how good a band was live. I had high expectations for Squid after listening to their new record, Bright Green Field, but I had no idea they would become one of the tightest, most precise, and perfect live bands I’ve seen as a journalist. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing or hearing. The vocals and the instrumentation was so on-point, it feels like it couldn’t possibly be happening in real time, before your eyes. But there they were, five young men from the United Kingdom that are going to change the face of music. As a music critic, sometimes I proclaim a band is going innovate too often, sometimes hyperbole like that loses meaning in music journalism, but Squid is different. I don’t see how Squid doesn’t become the biggest band of the 20’s. related content: Alien Boys And Girls: George Clanton And Magdalena Bay At 1720 Their supporting acts are usually eclectic like Harry the Nightgown for their second sold out show at the Moroccan Lounge. With just Spencer Hartling manning the electronics and Sami Perez on guitars and vocals, the music took a bit of time

Alien Boys and Girls: George Clanton and Magdalena Bay at 1720

Rob Shepyer November 19, 2021

I’ve been waiting to see George Clanton in concert again since Desert Daze 2019. During that weekend, I remember being a little hesitant, maybe even prejudice against, seeing any artist that would make their name a play on another artist’s name. Something about that gesture never sat right with me for my own elitist reasons. As it turns out, Clanton is George’s birth name. That weekend in 2019, when I got to the Temple stage to see his performance, I realized George Clanton was the most powerful, imaginative and ambitious musical mind at the entire festival. The tone of his electronics simultaneously cut right through to the core of your heart while warming that infinite substance inside that you call a soul, all while making that material prison of a body dance like crazy. I try to put myself in the shoes of George Clanton when the first fizzle of an idea for a new composition comes into his mind like an arrow straight from God and I just can’t imagine how cool it is to feel such pretty abstractions playing out to such a wonderful soundtrack. George Clanton is one of those alien boys, not quite like the rest

Heavy on the Cool: Dry Cleaning at Teragram Ballroom

Rob Shepyer November 14, 2021

Raybans, iced coffee, and cigarettes high atop Manhattan on a gloomy day spent people watching on a fire escape. A Jim Jarmusch movie plays on mute in the living room while the last Dry Cleaning vinyl, New Long Leg, spins in your bedroom. You jot down lines of poetry that don’t rhyme or make sense but you feel inspired and accomplished behind your shades and thin, unmovable lips. This scene, which I just imagined, plays out in black and white, an experimental piece of imagination meant for celluloid and inspired by the sounds of Dry Cleaning, a band with the New York spirit of No Wave and South London post punk heart. You hear shades of Television, Joy Division, Portishead, Talking Heads, The Modern Lovers, Lydia Lunch, Iggy Pop’s more recent stuff, Sleaford Mods, and Kim Gordon. related content: Chicano Batman Bring A Crumb Home To The Shrine Dry Cleaning is all the rage. Before I committed to covering the show, a friend asked if I was going to see that band everyone likes right now at Teragram. When I asked which band he was referring to, his reply was simply “Dirty Laundry”. When I saw the hype around Dry

Chicano Batman Bring a Crumb Home to the Shrine

Danny Baraz November 12, 2021

Chicano Batman must’ve hit such an intense crescendo on their current tour when they reached the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Nov 10th to play night 1 of 2 sold out dates for their proud, gushing home town crowd. I have to be honest, after opening band Crumb finished their set, I thought I was going to make the word count in this review tilt toward the psych-rock outfit from New York but silly rabbit, Chicano Batman reign supreme in L.A. related content: Texis Or Treats: Sleigh Bells At Teragram Ballroom It was a case of one of the best bands in indie music opening for one of the best bands in indie music. A classic gorge fest of immaculate songwriting meets prodigious musicianship and the line to get through security was still around the block by the time Los Retros took the stage. I wasn’t there to see it for myself but I heard Mauri Tapia of Los Retros broke a guitar string and with no back up, he made the best of it with his wurlitzer tone on keys and classic retro rock croons-manship. I was inside and well placed while the changeover crew set Crumb

Photo Recap: Gipsy Kings at City National Grove of Anaheim

Janky Smooth Central Command November 10, 2021

Their story begins in the south of France, where a family of Gitanos, Spanish Romani, formed a band that sang Spanish songs with French dialects to create some of the most vibrant and romantic music in modern history. Gipsy Kings and Nicolas Reyes are an institution, bigger than the genres they make music in. No matter if you’re American, European, Asian, Latino, African, or anything else, you know the Gipsy Kings. The story of The Gipsy Kings is one of immigration and destiny that so many people in Southern California can connect with and be inspired by. It was an honor to get the chance to do a giveaway and recap of their show. Their concert at City National Grove of Anaheim was an unforgettable evening filled with cheer and intimacy that crossed every barrier between peoples present. Opening for the Gipsy Kings was the angelic Mikaela Davis on her harp. Together these two artists crafted the soul of a night of music that will keep Anaheim dancing for a long time to come. Gipsy Kings Mikaela Davis

Photo Recap: Khruangbin at the Greek Theatre

Janky Smooth Central Command November 9, 2021

Photos by: Manuel Arredondo Khruangbin has been a topic of contention at Jankysmooth. Most contributors love them, some just don’t get it. Some just don’t know how to dance. Regardless of critical opinion, the band’s ticket sales and cultural impact speak for themselves. They sold out three nights at the Greek Theatre and are more or less the psychedelic rock scene’s single top attraction at this time. They’re leading the charge in music of a movement that hasn’t even been fully defined yet. Classifying their sound makes most critics come up with plenty of nebulous terms when a colloquialism like jive will suffice. Joining the power trio on this night of their sell out spree at the Greek was Japanese psych heroes Kikagaku Moyo. Check out these incredible photos from the show: Khruanbin Kikagaku Moyo

Photo Recap: Idles at the Fonda Theatre

Janky Smooth Central Command November 7, 2021

Every few years, there seems to be new, incoming waves and incarnations of what American’s call The UK Invasion. I don’t think any invasion in military history has lasted this long. It’s a part of American musical life, this cycle of American music scenes being refined by British artists, meanwhile the scene dies down in America until those British Artists tour the states and completely take over. Idles is the latest sensation to lead the pack of artists that have breathed new life into the American punk scene, bringing garage influence to bigger stages than most American bands have in years. The band sold out three nights at the Fonda, filling the venue with their power punk sound, turning shows into massive, Dioynisian shindigs. Opening for the band was Gustaf, a Brooklyn band with lethal doses of swagger and cool, balancing art rock, no wave, punk, and funk. Idles Gustaf

Category: SHOWS

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